Victorian tourism hits new milestone

22 Jul, 2019

The value of Victoria’s burgeoning visitor economy has soared to $30 billion, cementing tourism as a key driver of the state’s economy and a jobs powerhouse.

New figures released by Tourism Research Australia show Victoria welcomed 90.6 million international and domestic visitors who spent $30 billion in the year to March ­– growth of 11.2 per cent and 10.3 per cent respectively.

The top five international countries for visitors were China (679,900), New Zealand (345,900), the US (247,700), UK (221,700) and India (170,800). Chinese visitors have grown by 13 per cent a year since 2014 while the number of Indian visitors more than doubled in the same period.

In regional Victoria, spending by all visitors saw double digit growth, up 10.4 per cent to $11 billion, while the total number of visitors increased by 9.5 per cent to 57.1 million.

Regional Victoria’s strongest performers experienced double digit growth in spending, including Victoria’s High Country (20.3 per cent), Gippsland (16.6 per cent), the Murray (14.7 per cent) and the Mornington Peninsula (14.1 per cent).

In Melbourne, total tourism spending grew by 10.3 per cent to reach $19 billion while total visitors grew by 13.6 per cent to reach 34.7 million.

Tourism supports more than 214,000 jobs in Victoria, including 85,000 in regional areas.